diy custom acrylic tank.......

here was one of my last builds i thought i would share with you guys.enjoy
here is a step by procedure for building a seamless custom acrylic tank.....
i will try to explain it the best i can...this was built for the owner of my companies son....sometimes it pays to be slow at work lol......i must say this is the first time i made money on a tank this tank here cost the company about 1400$ with about 40hrs labor... the tank will be used for freshwater so there is no overflows etc.....so here we go let the pics begin.....
first step is the layout and mark your material where you would like to bend it....i choose half inch because this is a 100gal hex front.....after you have your layout set it up on a table and i perfer 1"medite or mdf some call it to keep the material flat while it is heated clamp the material in place leaving a 1" gap between for the material to heat and bend....i use a infared heater used to bake paint for my bending, each bend is heated for 2 hours very slowly to prevent problems such as crazing while you glue it....it is the best way to get a nice clean bend without alot of stress on the material if you heat it fast it will severly weaken the material...each bend was at a 45deg....

 

step 2 gluing the back to the front panel i use razor blades for shims as seen in the photos.....wick the solvent in there and let it set for 45 secs or so and pull the shims out....




step3
making a eurobrace...i choose a 3" eurobrace with a 3" center brace....let me remind you here money was no object here lol.....i wish i could say the same for myself i actually did fork out 600$ for weldon 42 gun and glue to do this project but it's mine to keep [smilie=angel4.gif]....take a square piece of material and lay it under the tank then you trace around the outside of the tank and rough cut it like a 1/8" oversized....then take a straight edge make a inside cut line at 3-1/8".....then take a jig saw and cut it out or a router with a straight edge clamped in place....i chose to use a jig saw becasue of all the radius'es"spelling" anyway's on a euro brace every corner must be round to allow the pressure of the tank to be more evenly spread out...

in this photo i used a roundover bit to give the inside of the euro brace a nice rounded edge...

 

step4
once you have your euro brace cut out it's time to glue it on the top of the tank.....use the same method i showed above with the sims etc...



once that is completed you repeat the steps for the euro brace for the bottom but don't cut the inside out lol....now let the glue cure for a day or so and you are ready to flush cut everything with a router....

here is some pics of the bends and glue joint's all clear no bubbles and mess free as can be....let me remind you i had all the time in the world..

 

and the final step flush cutting it with a router....LET IT SNOW!!!!!!!!


and the after math a good 20ft circle of mess.......

and here it is completed ready for polishing and a leak test.....

 

Wow if only we could all build like that.

 

With the rite tools anything is possible....

 

Looks like you need a festool router + vaccum setup for that routing!

Nice built K+ for the documenting

 

Thanks man.....ya I got a vacum on my saws but not for the routers.....I got tons of builds and pics to post give me a few days lol.....I could just post a link but I'm not sure the dealio on this site yet I'm a newb here lol......

 

Very nice....I never knew how to bend acrylic.... Now I do.... I'd give anything for a workshop like yous

 

Nice thread keep em coming.